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It
can take a while to walk back to the grandstands, especially when there's so
much to see.... But I was certainly glad to get back there. By the
time I climbed those steps at the back of the pits grandstand (which are an
ordeal in themselves when you're feeling pretty tired!), I was
looking forward to sitting down. It was still incredibly warm and I
was glad I'd purchased a couple of bottles of water to keep me going. I've
been terribly spoiled over the last four years. On occasions in the past
I've had a grandstand seat - in 1991 the Tourists had some seats in the Dunlop
Grandstand, in '92 Pierre and I sat in the excellent Maison Blanche stand (at
the Ford Chicane) and in '93 the two of us made our base in the ACO
grandstand. But since 2003, my great friend Fab had bought me a grandstand
seat each year, opposite the pits in that year, but in the pits grandstand for
the last three years. Spoiled? Yes indeed. Being able to sit
down and relax but still take photographs while doing so is a great
advantage. The drawback is that it makes you lazy - I didn't get over onto
the tribunes nor did I walk anything like the distance during the night that I
have in previous years, but I have to remember that I was 48 this year and not
quite as fit as I was when I first came to Le Mans in 1986, despite having
packed up smoking! Some how I need to lose some weight before next year!
As
the night wore on well into Sunday morning, the few Le Mans diehards in the pits
grandstand had an awful lot of space to themselves - quite a contrast to 4 pm
the previous day when the stand was hot and heaving. By now of course, the
Pescarolo challenge had seriously waned and the French knew in their hearts that
they would not be cheering a home victory at 4 pm on Sunday. The Audi's
were pretty certain to take the spoils yet again. The only real issue was
whether the incredible Tom Kristensen would beat Jackie Ickx's record of 6 Le
Mans wins. I wasn't about to bet against it, for sure......
All
too soon the shortest night of the year (well, it seems like that to me
sometimes) gave notice of having given up the battle against the dawn. I
was quite literally too flaked to move anywhere. The heat of the evening
and night had been replaced by the sharp chill which usually accompanies the
dawn at Le Mans. But there were still several hours to go before I would
meet up with Ian again for the trip back to the hotel for breakfast.
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